Conclusions

Rethinking order. This is the theme that summarizes an important part of Smith’s research, which we set out to analyze by considering the various sources that had led that author to formulate his ideas about the self-regulating market and social order. In particular, Smith’s idea of social order has been interpreted here as the result of a combination of theoretical analyses and less structured visions, which ultimately rested on the use of metaphors. A vast amount of literature has argued that metaphors are conceptual tools and not mere elocutionary tools. In this perspective, this study has analyzed the three main metaphors that conceptualized order in Adam Smith’s thought: the machine, the body and the invisible hand. It has also been argued that the notion of invisibility, as the expression of a logic that goes beyond the context in which the figure of the “invisible hand” was used, was the hallmark of Smith’s economic theory, of life sciences and of other disciplines of his time. Lastly, it has been shown that time became an element to take into account in analyzing the social order. In particular, in the new circumstances, the continuous reconfiguration of order made the future open and unpredictable.